A Battlefield Crown

For Rome it was a disastrous day. For Carthage, it was turning into a glorious day. The two world powers had been at war for 6 years. The war would continue for almost another decade and would catapult Rome on its way to controlling most of the western world.

On this day the Roman military machine was taking heavy losses in the battle of Camarina.

The campaign that would finally give Rome control over Sicily. But this day was not going to plan.

The Roman general and dictator Atilius had marched his troops south to take the city. As they approached their target, Atilius either by ignorance or arrogance led his army directly into a steep valley.

The enemy surrounded them in ambush and turned the steep valley into their advantage. An air of desperation hung over the soldiers as blood from their comrades began to mix with the mud at their feet. It was a gruesome, savage scene as the Carthaginian soldiers slowly and methodically overcame the Roman forces. It appeared that all was lost and there could be no escape.

In the middle of brutality one soldier saw a singular opportunity. The battle would be lost, but the army could be saved if Calpurnius could convince the soldiers under his command to do the unthinkable.

They would commit suicide.

Calpurnius had identified a hilltop that would give a small strategic advantage. He pointed with his sword to the hill and cried out “Let us die my men! And in dying save our trapped legions from their peril.”

300 men ran to the hilltop to defend themselves from the Carthaginian forces. With the enemies attention diverted toward that hilltop, Atilius was able to save his army from the ambush.

All 300 hundred men’s lives were lost. But their act of valor delivered many lives that day.

Atilius would go on to secure the area for Rome and return home, as often happens in politics, viewed as a hero to lavish rewards and honors. After all, it is the generals, not the common soldiers, who give out the medals.

Because the generals and politicians are the ones who give out the awards. A tradition developed among the military soldiers to honor the people who were often over looked by the power system.

Surviving soldiers would return to the battlefield, pluck from the bloody field surviving flowers and plants, weaving them into a crown to be placed upon the head of the recipient, an act of mocking the people in power while honoring the uncelebrated hero.

It became known as the grass crown and became one of the highest military honors.

Unlike all other military prizes, this one was awarded by acclamation of the rescued soldiers. Very few were ever given.

Jesus Christ

The Roman soldiers must have thought they were clever. Descending upon Him in the Praetorium with all their frustrations and fury. Each taking a turn, punching him. It was torture. They stripped him bare and beat him some more. The entire garrison involved themselves in the act.

One returned with a robe. Not just any robe, but a purple robe, the common color worn by nobles and royals. Others inspired by the imagery others stepped outside finding a reed and some thorns. They slapped the reed into his hand and continued to beat him while the others fashioned a crown from the thorns.

So they beat this innocent man with all the frustration of warriors sent to occupy territory they would gladly surrender to be home.

The crown was pressed into His brow and more blood, streams of it, began to flow down his face.

Crown

It was all meant to be mocking symbolism, the robe, the reed, and the crown. Here was the King of the Jews. The idea itself was laughable. The Jews having a King. They had not ruled themselves in 3 centuries.

The true symbolism was completely lost on these soldiers, but we, those that are His we know.

Like the powerless soldiers who honored Calpurnius could only fashion a crown of grass from the battlefield where their lives were delivered.

These soldiers plucked from the battlefield a symbol of the curse that He would overcome on the cross.

Genesis 3:17–18 NKJV

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.

They mocked, Hell celebrated, and the heavens were dark.

But the Earth knew.

Matthew 27:51–52 NKJV

51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

The earth shook and surrendered the bodies it had claimed.

A top a strategically placed hill, with nails in His hands, and a thorn crown on His head. Jesus Christ made a way of deliverance when their was no hope for us to escape a curse.

Today we celebrate because He is risen and is alive!

When the enemy thought the battle over, Jesus found a hill and made a way for us to escape. He became the curse.

Galatians 3:13 NKJV

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

He has been crowned with glory and honor.

Hebrews 2:7–9 NKJV

7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

He took the curse as a crown, became the curse so that we could be free of it.

Revelation 22 gives us the culmination of His act on the cross. The day we wait for.

Revelation 22:1–5 NKJV

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

Ending

He has authority over the curse. But for His crown, the cross, and His sacrifice to hold any validity in your life. He must be on the throne of your life.

Revelation 22:3 NKJV

3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.